Editor's Comment

Rex Veeder

This year I was the guest editor for Kaleidoscope, and I want to thank you all for the opportunity to work with you. The magazine offers us a chance to explore the interesting possibilities of our diverse backgrounds, and I want to invite each of you to consider four of those interesting possibilities for the coming year.

First, the Editors of Kaleidoscope want to remind everyone that the magazine exists on the borders of our many cultures. We encourage you to submit works that identify and celebrate your cultures so that we may all understand the rich variety of traditions available to us in this United States of consciousness. The magazine exists to celebrate our unique histories and to help us understand each other.

Second, we also encourage you to write about those cultures you are trying to understand but that are not your own by birth, blood, or background. The desire to write about and, therefore, understand our relationships with other cultures is an honest and honorable desire. When we write or draw or take pictures of another's culture, we are guests in that culture, and visiting other cultures in the spirit of guesthood
allows us all the chance to identify with those cultures and to include them in our lives. The Editors encourage you to submit works in the spirit of guesthood.

Third, as John Gannades' drawings suggest, the visual art of sketches and line drawings allows us another important way of connecting to the diverse heritages we all share. Since we are limited to black and white visuals, line drawings offer the artist and the reader the unique opportunity to envision cultures. The computer generated Hoop and Hopi sandpainting in this issue are other examples of this kind of art. I would
encourage all of you to try your hand at this art form for next year. Since we do not use color, you might write a short discussion to accompany your sketch. For example, the Hoop sketch would be colored:

RV

The four quarters of the hoop represent the colors red, brown, yellow, and white. This suggests the colors of our peoples joined in the circle of life.

Fourth, Kaleidoscope belongs to the students of St. Cloud State University. Submit early and often and use the magazine to challenge, to think, to seek understanding, and to foster reconciliation. If you find yourself writing something for Kaleidoscope, you will have found a place wherein you can say something that is important to you to those who are interested.